this was my throwaway season, but it turns out to be my best season by my own marks, I won the league in 09 and 11, went into 2012 with no picks in the first 6 rounds, after wheeling and dealing all year in 11 to win it all.

I figured I was playing for 9th or so at best, with Keepers Verlander, Crawford (ugh), Hosmer (ugh), Cano and Hanley (ugh) I wasnt really that set going in.

thanks to hitting on Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Rios, Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina, Alceides Escobar, Adam Jones, along with deals for Freese, Zobrist, additions of Dickey, Laroche, Keppinger, and others sprinkled in throughout the year. I start the season with 2 closers (Bailey ugh, and Nathan) to finish with an 11 in saves due to the likes of Cook, Jannsen, Balfour, Nathan, Lopez, and others.

as of today, 1 week to go I have secured 3rd place ($200) and am trailing 2nd by 3 pts, with a potential to make up 5 points. If things fall perfect I can overcome tremendous odds that I started this season with.

I thank the guys at the Cafe, the guys who said to buy EE, Rios and others, without the cafe, who knows where I finish

Currently in playoffs battling for 3rd place after losing in the first round. Puts me in the money but I thought I could have taken the gold.

Pros: - Was in dead last at the all star break. Seriously - dead last. Won or tied every week from then on to move into third on the season. It was epic.- My closers proved again that you never, ever, overpay for saves. Betancourt + J Johnson + Frieri + Balfour = Gold.- Keepers are looking good for next year: MCab, B Phillips, R Zimmerman, Holliday, Braun, J Up, Rizzo, choice of 2: S Perez (C - KC), Hanson (SP - Atl), or Moore (SP - TB) to round it out (9 total).- Most likely will try and trade R Zimmerman for a SP and move Rizzo to 1B and MCab to 3B. Maybe try and deal Phillips as well as I have Altuve to fill in at 2B.

Cons: - My starting pitching is freaking terrible. Lost D Hudson and B Beachy to season-ending surgeries (they were my 1-2....) and then B Anderson as well. Moore took half a season to come around. The rest of my staff is solid but rag-tag compared to the league (Fister, Minor, Niece, Morrow, streamers). I was fortunate to grab Hanson off waivers, dunno why he was dropped, but we'll see.- No one trades in my league. It's freaking unbearable. Actually at mid-season I complained and a couple trades went through (including Trout for Cain/Hamilton) but that was it silence from then on. It's very frustrating as I love trading and consider it one of the better parts of the game.

I can finish no better than 5th in my main 12-teamer. I am currently 6th and could slip as far as 8th. I was hovering toward the bottom of the league. I was heavily relying on players like Kemp, Berkman (OBP league), Upton, Pablo & Napoli. I was forced to chase saves all year too & fell behind (only 10 waive moves). It's been a season to forget is is my worst finish in 12 years.

I took over another 12-teamer with deep rosters and minor leagues this season too. I am likely going to finish between 8th and 10th. I knew that the team would be challenge. I took it over after the previous owner bailed in the middle of their draft. I only selected 6 players for this team. This coming offseason will be my first real chance at molding this team.

I started to commish another 12-team auction league with some Cafe members this year. Currently 8 points separates 2nd from 7th. It's been like this all year. I am currently 5th & my team has been playing well. TheRock ... you're NEXT!

Joined a public league one night out of complete boredom. I have a 20 point lead over 2nd place. I've held this lead since the beginning of June.

Element wrote:I started to commish another 12-team auction league with some Cafe members this year. Currently 8 points separates 2nd from 7th. It's been like this all year. I am currently 5th & my team has been playing well. TheRock ... you're NEXT!

Joined a public league one night out of complete boredom. I have a 20 point lead over 2nd place. I've held this lead since the beginning of June.

This tells the story...just depends on what kind of leagues you join. Luck plays a much larger role in very competitive leagues because everyone is knowledgable and it just comes down to big booms or busts and injuries. In public leagues or leagues with friends where the knowledge level is all over the place but usually not many that are "cafe" knowledgable and it then becomes more likely you finish high every year...luck still plays a part but your knowledge over everyone else becomes apparent and high finishes are expected.

My fantasy finishes have been going down each year that i've been putting more and more energy into my spreadsheets. I spend the whole offseason working on my spreadsheet that by the time the season rolls around I'm already burned out and it shows in my activity level during the year...I still put forth effort but it's not like it used to be...I guess being older with family/life/job being more important has a lot to do with my in season acitivity level as well. I don't know how many times during the year I'll see an add/drop on the main league page and I'm like, ugh, I wish I would have been paying more attention so I could grabbed that guy.

With all that said, and my excuses out of the way, I didn't have a great year this year. Though every league I'm in is a cafe league so every player is top notch.

My main money league - 14 teams H2H....I won this league(regular season) back to back in '09 and '10, but last year I finished terribly, I think 12th. And this year I just missed the playoffs on the last week.

Cafe Masters - 15 team Weekly/Roto.... I won this league 2 years ago, but the last 2 years has been bad...was 10th out of 15 last year and this year I'm only hoping to finish 10th.

Elements Auction - 12 teams Roto.... First year of this league and I'm in that range he mentioned above(2nd - 7th) who are all bunched together. I'm really happy with this finish due to joining the league a week before we started the auction and I never once looked at auction values this who year, pretty much shot from the hip during the auction.

So while I think I'm still the same guy I've always been as far as player knowledge and game knowledge you still have to be someone who puts forth a decent amount of time and energy in keeping up with your team during the season or else your final results just aren't going to be what you would like them to be. Regardless though, if you are in a highly competitive league(cafe), finishing high year in and year out is a Very difficult thing to do.

I think going forward I'm going to regulate myself down to just 1 league a year to help keep me interested and focused in season.

J35J wrote:I think going forward I'm going to regulate myself down to just 1 league a year to help keep me interested and focused in season.

It works, and is the best thing you can do. I used to grind out 7, 8 leagues a year, and then I grew burnt out, and as you said, would miss an Add here, a start there, and really grew disinterested. For the last three or so years I've limited myself to 2 leagues and 2 leagues only, no exceptions, and have not only re-found my enjoyment and fun with fantasy baseball, but been in the mix to win each league each year. Right now in one league it looks like I'll finish 2nd after finishing 1st and 2nd in the previous two years, and in my other league I'm leading, albeit slipping, after finishing 1st last year, and 3rd or 4th the year prior. I still enjoy all the off-season stuff, but when the season rolls around, I don't feel just shot or tired of the whole thing, and get to really spend more time focusing on the leagues I'm in, and enjoying it. I highly recommend limiting yourself to just your favorite league and seeing how that treats you in 2013. It's tough to leave leagues at first, but at this point I don't mind turning down every invite I get.

12 team, roto, auction (elements league). (5 or 6 other cafe members in this league) 12th place. (not even close to 11th) Pretty much been dead since day 1. Spent all my money on tulo and j upton. Haven't made any quality moves to dig myself out of the hole. Admittedly, kind of checked out over the past month.

Work league - 12 team, daily, 5x5 roto. 1st by a mile. This doesn't even count. Not knowledgable people here. The team that is in 7th left the draft with, like, 8 minnesota twins on his team, because that's what he knew. Again, he's in 7th. Whatever, I get a weeks worth of free lunches.

Playing just one league this year due to being in the hospital in February and March, and this is my primary money league.

Defending champ in the 12-team standard stat + Holds/OBP, keeper league with a $26 budget. I wouldn't say I"m guaranteed 3rd (1st and 2nd are unatanable), but I am guaranteed money (top 4), and will win money for the fourth straight year.

The Bad: Rosario is currently my leading home run hitter (along with Jason Heyward). Trio of sophomore slumps: Desmond Jennings, Eric Hosmer and Brett Lawrie sapped my overall numbers.Lost Evan Longoria for much of the season, which cost me 3.20 to keep.Yonder Alsono was my 1B.

The Ugly:Due to the slashing of budget, kept Justin Upton (3.40) over Jay Bruce and Andrew McCutchen. I still have hopes for him though.Traded for Hanley Ramirez when Longoria went down for a pair of prospects...one of which, was Mike Trout.

Still in the hunt in one league for the title and currently sitting in first place (12 team H2H 5 player keeper).

Just finished 4th in the league that I have won the last two championships with. This one just came down to to many injuries: Tulo, Kemp, Longoria, Pedroia and Luebke. Add in Justin Upton taking a dive this season and what I thought could be a dominating 3rd title just didn't finish it off. (10 team H2H Dynasty. Keep 35 players and 20 player minor league system. League doesn't have a lot of teams but there isn't much on the WW either).

In the hunt for 3rd place finish. (12 H2H 10 player keeper)

Will finish in the bottom half (12 team points)

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move."- Douglas Adams

First in my main mixed league, first in my NL Only, 6th in AL Only (really crapped the bed in this one), 6th in another mixed league. All roto. Had by far the highest totals in the pitching categories for both leagues where I'm in 6th, which shows you how bad my hitting was in those two leagues (hint: damn near the worst). Should end up more than doubling my entry fees overall, though.